Mermaids Don't Exist, NOAA Website Notes

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The National Ocean Service's June 27 posting that mermaids don't
exist may seem an odd fit for a government agency that focuses on
real ocean phenomena. But according to a spokesperson the mermaid
posting is just one way to educate people, and perhaps bust some
mermaid myths.

The timing of the post seems to coincide with the Animal Planet
show "Mermaids: The Body Found," which came out at the end of May
and explored whether there is "a kernel of truth that lives
beneath the legend of
the mythic mermaid," according to the show's description.

Not so, says the National Ocean Service (part of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA). "No evidence of
aquatic humanoids has ever been found," part of the post
reads. Nevertheless, a NOAA spokesperson would not confirm that
the post was in direct response to the show, which was presented
in documentary format.

The reference to "aquatic humanoids" alludes to a controversial
theory called the aquatic ape theory, which suggests humans had
an aquatic stage in our evolutionary past. Called "pseudoscience"
by anthropologist
John Hawks on his blog, this theory is not supported by most
scientists.

The Animal Planet summary says its show is "a story about
evolutionary possibility grounded in a radical scientific theory
– the Aquatic Ape Theory, which claims that humans had an aquatic
stage in our evolutionary past."

The mermaids post is part of the Ocean Facts section of the
National Ocean Service website to answer inquiries they receive.
Since October 2008, they have posted 195 ocean facts items.

"The timing was around that time. I think the TV show came out
around Memorial Day and we got a few of the questions [about
mermaids]," Keeley Belva, spokesperson for NOAA's National Ocean
Service, told LiveScience. "Arguably, yes, the timing is tied to
the documentary."

She added, "As we had gotten a couple questions about mermaids,
we thought this would be a fun way to talk about it and to have
information up about mermaids in different cultures and to draw
people into our website and learn more about what NOAA and the
National Ocean Service does." [ Top
10 Mythical Creatures ]

In popular myth, mermaids are half-human, half-fish sirens of the
sea. As the ocean facts post points out, they "are legendary sea
creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial."
For instance, Homer wrote of them in the ancient Greek epic "The
Odyssey," and in the Far East, mermaids were considered the wives
of powerful sea
dragons, serving as trusted messengers between the spouses
and emperors of the land.

In fact, the scientific grouping Sirenia, which includes manatees
and their close relative the dugong comes from mermaid legend.
Sailors long ago mistook these large gentle marine mammals for
mermaids, or sirens who sang songs to lure ships into rocky
shores. Legend has it that Christopher Columbus recorded a
sighting of a manatee, saying he was surprised at the
not-so-beautiful "mermaid," according to the Dolphin Research
Center in Florida.

The aboriginal people of Australia had their own name for
mermaids, yawkyawks, which could refer to the sirens' allegedly
mesmerizing songs. In fact, as far back as 30,000 years ago when
humans were becoming the dominant species of the land, and
possibly taking to the seas, they seem to have imagined magical
female figures. These figures first appear in cave paintings at
the time.

"Half-human creatures, called chimeras, also abound in mythology
— in addition to mermaids, there were wise centaurs, wild satyrs,
and frightful minotaurs, to name but a few," according to the
NOAA Web posting.

Even today, "mermaid" sightings still occur. For instance, in
2009 in the Israeli town of Kiryat Yam, locals and tourists
flocked to the coast in hopes of
glimpsing an alleged mermaid that resembled a cross between a
fish and a young girl; apparently she would only appear at
sunset.